The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
disposes of mineral materials such as sand, gravel, and petrified
wood under the provisions of the Materials Act of 1947, as amended.
The BLM needs the required information to determine if an applicant
qualifies for a free use permit or must purchase the mineral
materials. BLM uses sales contract Form 3600-9 to authorize the
sale, and to identify the legal contractual obligations of the
purchaser, the amount and type of material purchased, the location
of the sale removal area, the duration and terms of the sale.
Information collected in support of the contract is used to (1)
Determine whether the sale of mineral materials is in the public
interest; (2) Mitigate the environmental impacts of mineral
materials development; (3) Get fair market value for materials
sold; and (4) Prevent trespass removal of the materials. The BLM
will contact the purchaser and conduct inspections to verify
production and compliance with the terms of the sale, including the
condition of the land maintained during operations and upon
reclamation. In most cases, we do not require a specific form to
collect the required information, because the resources differ with
each location, each applicants operation has unique aspects, and
the amount of supporting information is kept to the minimum needed
for the specific proposal in each application. The BLM needs the
required information to determine if an applicant qualifies for a
free use permit or must purchase the mineral materials. BLM uses
sales contract Form 3600-9 to authorize the sale, and to identify
the legal contractual obligations of the purchaser, the amount and
type of material purchased, the location of the sale removal area,
the duration and terms of the sale. Information collected in
support of the contract is used to (1) Determine whether the sale
of mineral materials is in the public interest; (2) Mitigate the
environmental impacts of mineral materials development; (3) Get
fair market value for materials sold; and (4) Prevent trespass
removal of the materials. The BLM will contact the purchaser and
conduct inspections to verify production and compliance with the
terms of the sale, including the condition of the land maintained
during operations and upon reclamation. In most cases, we do not
require a specific form to collect the required information,
because the resources differ with each location, each applicants
operation has unique aspects, and the amount of supporting
information is kept to the minimum needed for the specific proposal
in each application.
There are several reasons for
differences from the previous analysis. In the previous collection
we estimated that there would be 5,400 annual responses filed,
resulting in an estimated 2,700 burden hours and $54,000 in annual
costs to the public. Our analysis at that time was conducted for an
information collection that included both exclusive (competitive
and noncompetitive) and nonexclusive mineral materials sales
contract. We have since decided to institute a program change to
separate the nonexclusive sales contracts from the exclusive ones
into separate Information Collection Requests (ICRs), at least
until we decide which BLM form is appropriate for the nonexclusive
sales. This collection therefore includes fewer annual responses
that in the previous collection, despite the fact that in addition
to estimating the time and cost burden to the public for Form
3600-9 we also estimated the time and cost to the public for
completing the related non-form information requirements. By
instituting a program change to include the non-form requirements
in our estimate of total annual burden hours and burden hour costs
to the public in this collection we corrected an inadvertent
omission from the previous collection. These form and non-form
requirements now appear as separate Information Collections (ICs)
within the ROCIS database and in this justification document. This
program change resulted in an increase in burden hours of 8,935
hours from the previous collection. The BLM also adjusted its
estimate of the annual burden hour cost to respondents based on
wage and benefit information for different relevant occupational
categories in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the previous
collection we estimated that each respondent would spend $20 (vs.
$28.69 this time) per hour gathering information required for a
mineral materials sales contract and related benefits (such as
sampling and testing). The estimated annual burden hour costs to
respondents is much higher in this collection for two main reasons:
1) the BLS wage and benefit information for the affected public (
private sector mineral materials operators) is higher that what we
had previously estimated and 2) we also incorporated burden hour
costs for both the sales contract form and the non-form information
requirements. We can attribute our change in non-burden hour costs
to respondents from the previous collection to new BLM regulations
(program change) that took effect in November 2005 authorizing the
BLM to charge fees to recover our costs of processing some sales
contracts. Those regulatory changes are contained in Minerals
Management: Adjustment of Cost Recovery Fees Final Rule (43 CFR
parts 3000, 3100, 3150, 3200, 350, 3580, 3600, 3730, 3810, and
3830). The BLM collected a total of $66,120 in cost recovery fees
associated with this information collection in FY2007. In order to
estimate the annual non-burden hour cost to respondents for this
collection, the BLM is assuming that it will collect on average
$66,120 in cost-recovery fees each year associated with this
collection.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Form BLM-3600-9 43 CFR 3602 Contract for Sale of Mineral Materials
Correction to 30 day notice (as published in FR).pdf
1004-0103-SupportStatement-03-27-08-FINAL.doc
43 U.S.C. 1732.txt
(Non-form) Records Maintenance (43 CFR 3602.28 )